Karel Klapalek

Karel Klapalek (25 May 1893-18 November 1984) was a Czechoslovakian general during World War II.

Biography
Karel Klapalek was born on 25 May 1893 in Neustadt an der Mettau, Austria-Hungary (present-day Nove Mesto nad Metuji, Czech Republic), and he was drafted into the army during World War I. He fought against the Russian Empire before being captured on 23 September 1915, and he would join the Triple Entente's Czechoslovak Legion while he was being held as a prisoner of war. He would not return to an independent Czechoslovakia until 1920, and he helped in establishing the military of the new nation. When Nazi Germany annexed Czechoslovakia as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Klapalek fought in the resistance against German occupation, and he entered Prague on 17 May 1945 after the Prague Offensive ended World War II with the liberation of Czechoslovakia. In 1948, Klapalek supported the communist coup d'etat in Czechoslovakia, and he died in 1984 at the age of 91.